Shooting a Documentary, need help from the pros
 

Hey everyone. I am shooting my first documentary with my trusty XH A1. Since I am very new to the documentary world, I was wondering for you experts... what frame rate should I be using?
29.97/60i or 24p.
This hopefully will be professional enough to sell and broadcast worldwide. So...I will definitely be converting this to PAL as well. My main target is Europe. :-)
The documentary will mainly be of an indoor interview setting nature.
Hope that's not too confusing.
Thanks in advance
Taj

The choice of frame rate is an aesthetic decision which is largely subjective. In other words, it's entirely up to you and it depends on what kind of look most appeals to you. Since you have the camera, the best thing to do is shoot some samples in each frame rate and review them. While you will receive helpful advice from this forum, there's no substitute for experimenting with the tools at hand... test the different frame rates and pick the one you like best.

Thanks Chris
 

Thanks Chris for your response..

I have done a lot of frame test already and no doubt about it, I prefer 24p. I just didn't know if the reality look of 60i was more accepted for documentaries than the film look(24p).

24p or the filmic look is pretty standard today. Unless you are mixing in a lot of home movies or interlaced footage from another source, I would shoot 24F (I have a Canon A1 also).

If you are going to convert the video to PAL, 24p will give you the best conversion. The video just needs to be speeded up 4%. The audio can be processed to speed up 4% yet retain the same pitch. I am sure there are numerous threads on this.

thanks guys, this helps alot!!